Man Vs Camera #13: Woman Singing Jazz
On A Sunday
Should’ve been working today really. Instead of watching The Guild, The Wire, Glee, Heroes and anything else I could lay my hands on. I also made some food and ate it. Then I uploaded some photos to Facebook. (The origami continues!)
Oh, and I decided to update this blog, obviously. Because it wouldn’t look good if it was just an endless stream of Man Vs Camera photos. But really, that’s not the same as actually writing is it? Still, last weekend I redrafted about a third of a novel, so I suppose I’ll give myself this one.
Should probably have a shower soon before heading out to the pub. (I have gone to about five different pubs though, so if nothing else, this weekend’s been very good for my Foursquare profile….)
Sudden Bursts Of Activity – The Mystery Explored
Link: Sudden Bursts Of Activity – The Mystery Explored
After months of procrastinating, pausing only to write a blog about how awesome it is to procrastinate, something strange happened last weekend. Out of nowhere, I was inspired to get a huge…
Paper Power
After a weekend and a few days of solid work editing my novel, I today uploaded it to Lulu to create a print copy of the second draft. This is only for further proof-reading by others and/or me. I also added in the first draft of my “other” novel because, hell, I may as well work on something else while other people pick through the first one. Pleasingly, this second attempt is much shorter.
Even though I’m only doing this for my own benefit and do plan on trying to get them published normally, I still feel vain and self-indulgent just for using a self-publishing site. I’m so simple.
Oh, I also ordered a copy of Shivering Sands by Warren Ellis because I was already paying Lulu’s shipping charges for a few books, so I figured I might as well. Plus I’d just printed about 1700 pages of stuff by me and that’s got to count as cruelty to trees. This must offset it somehow.
Even though I’m only doing this for my own benefit and do plan on trying to get them published normally, I still feel vain and self-indulgent just for using a self-publishing site. I’m so simple.
Oh, I also ordered a copy of Shivering Sands by Warren Ellis because I was already paying Lulu’s shipping charges for a few books, so I figured I might as well. Plus I’d just printed about 1700 pages of stuff by me and that’s got to count as cruelty to trees. This must offset it somehow.
Walking The Black Dog – 27/01/2010
Link: Walking The Black Dog – 27/01/2010
First ‘Walking The Black Dog’ for a short while. I’ve been a shade tardy about spamming other blogs with my writing, mostly because I’ve been secluded in my own little world trying to make my novel…
Dork Review: Being Human series 2 so far - by me!
Link: Dork Review: Being Human series 2 so far - by me!
A medium-length pontification on the latest episodes of the BBC’s gothic flatshare series. Posted at the always-fun Dorkadore site. Feel free to give it a look.
Things That I Like: Infectonator
Link: Things That I Like: Infectonator
Another stupid flash game! Click the big link to play. I do find that you reach a certain point, then discover it’s impossible to get any further. Which is a bit annoying.
Is There Such A Thing As Too Much Cynicism?
Link: Is There Such A Thing As Too Much Cynicism?
This is, I suppose, a semi-sequel to “How To Harness Your Cynicism”, one of the first entries I put up on Feeding The Black Dog. My aim in that piece was to provide some kind of mission statement…
I’d had a dream where Scott Pilgrim punched a dude so hard he went all the way around the world, so I put that in there. Later I decided it was unrealistic.
Bryan Lee O’Malley, creator of the awesome Scott Pilgrim graphic novels.
I dids it!
I finished editing the second draft of the novel! Admittedly it has exposed a few problems which I now need to go straight back and fix, but it’s a relatively small job. Hopefully should be done by next weekend, or during it.
But still, mission done! Have celebrated by watching three episodes of The Guild then, um, going back to make these new changes. Hmm.
Editing Mid-Way Intermission Thing
It’s Sunday morning, I’ve been up for about 40 mins, and I’m starting to feel I should get back to editing my novel type thing. I also spent the entire of yesterday doing that, and edited nearly half of the remaining hundred pages. I somewhat suspect the law of mounting tiredness/restlessness might hit me today, and I won’t get anywhere near as much done.
Certainly, the fact I’ve chosen to blog about this fact instead of actually working doesn’t bode well. Also, I would quite like today’s Man Vs Camera update to be something other than the inside of my house, and for that I will need to go somewhere. Hmm.
Anyway, I’ll feel a lot better about that if I’ve actually gotten some work done, so I’d best get on with it I suppose. This weekend’s productivity has been enhanced by watching episodes of The Guild whenever I feel like a break. (They’re only a few minutes long, so it’s not as lazy as it sounds.) It’s very funny, although fairly geeky I suppose.
How Not To Edit Your Novel
Link: How Not To Edit Your Novel
Now that I have more free time, after the cessation of Behatted, I have returned to a long-outstanding project: The editing of my novel.
This huge, flapping albatross has been dangling around…
Whether or not you’ve been following the O’Brien/Leno faff in the US lately, this is by far the most entertaining summary of it. (With subtitles!)
Man Vs Camera: Belated Introduction
So, I’ve started posting pictures under the heading “Man Vs Camera”. You can see all of the pictures to date by clicking on the relevant tag on the blog. (As long as I remember to tag them.)
Why? Well, I haven’t done much photographing for a while and I used to quite enjoy it. Funny story: I did a photography course at college, but the eccentric tutor disappeared the week before she was due to mark our portfolios. So I will never know if I was really any good.
But I suspect I’m not any good. So I present these pictures with very little arrogance about their quality. Oh, and they’re taken on a phone camera for the most part, so they don’t have much quality in terms of megapixels either.
Ah well. I’ll try and do one a day, but imagine that won’t always happen. Think of it as a small, quite rubbish, photojournal. If you like.
Zen And The Art Of Killing Time In A Train Station
Link: Zen And The Art Of Killing Time In A Train Station
Due to inevitable delays in the arrival of trains (or friends), rail stations end up being places in which we need to kill an hour or so. Throughout history, this has been unpleasant as they aren’t…
Misery Loves Equations
Apparently, yesterday was the most depressing day of the year. Blue Monday, they called it, which I thought was the title of a song. Apparently it’s all bollocks based on bad science anyway.
Point being, I didn’t notice until lunchtime, which was annoying, as I imagined it would have made for a good Feeding The Black Dog entry. However, I tried to write a “Blue Tuesday” day-after piece just now, and it felt kinda contrived.
So maybe it’s a good thing. Or alternatively, maybe it’s eight in the morning and I’ve only just woken up. Either way, I will be letting Blue Monday pass me by for this year. Hopefully this will mean a slight decrease in personal misery.
Space Shot, the new single by Ash, was released today for download and so forth. I have the MP3 because I subscribe to their new-song-fortnightly A-Z Series thing, and am enjoying it.
Other songs especially worth checking out from the A-Z include True Love 1980, Arcadia and Pripyat. However, all of them have been good, fun indie-pop. If you’ve ever liked Ash, they’re doing some good stuff here.
Internet Stalking For Beginners
Link: Internet Stalking For Beginners
I’ve been using the internet since I was fairly young, and have become relatively able at finding things out about people on it. Now, this used to be creepy when it was just me alone in my room, but…
Aftermath of last night’s small party. Yes, that is a Peppa Pig birthday cake. No, it wasn’t anyone’s birthday. Bit tired.
Fun To Be Had: Blosics
Link: Fun To Be Had: Blosics
This is one of those stupid Flash games that the internet is full of. But for some reason, I have become quite attached to it. Every so often, I play it all the way through just to relax me. (It only takes about 20 mins.) Or I play whilst imposing some silly made-up rule on myself, like “You have to complete each level in only one shot”*.
It’s fun. Try it. This was sent to me by my friend Paul, who is a much bigger Flash game player than I.
* Not possible on all levels.
Things That Amuse Me: Misery Bear
Link: Things That Amuse Me: Misery Bear
Click on the above to see four short comical films featuring a miserable teddy bear. I don’t know if this says bad things about me, but I find them incredibly funny. The poor bastard. You can also follow him on Twitter, if that’s your bag.
The free music of Kupek!
Link: The free music of Kupek!
Some lovely heartfelt indie-style stuff by Kupek, aka Bryan Lee O’Malley. And it’s all 100% free! (The Tries Again album is particularly recommended.)
Do I Really Have To?
Link: Do I Really Have To?
I sat there all evening, trying to get started on a post. I came close to writing a second piece about how tired I am, but the prospect of writing it bored me. Then, I considered something glib…
London Blags Mobiles - A Brief LBM Match Report
As mentioned in my awe-inspiring first post, I popped along to London Bloggers Meetup (“LBM”, or “#LBM”) last night. I could produce a whole write-up, but that would be boring. Here are five bullet points instead.
- There was a raffle to win an iPhone, supplied by Vodafone. There was a lot of emphasis on this aspect in the tweets beforehand. I did not win, which is good as surely that would have been a betrayal of my beloved HTC Magic Android phone?
- James Holland from ElectricPig told us things about liveblogging, based on his experience covering something relating to technology. I came away intrigued, and trying to think of something I can liveblog. Fans of my #tfts tag on Twitter will be sad to hear that I will not be liveblogging my own visits to the lavatory.
- Blogger Bingo! Spotted and/or spoken to: various Domestic Sluts, afore-mentioned James from ElectricPig, Melinda Seckington of Miss Geeky, Ant Carroll of Fresh Plastic and a Luke Westaway of Electric Spectre. (Am assuming no relation to the Pig.) Plus some nice chaps from Vodafone.
- Weather may have harmed attendance, as London was power-bombed with snow. But frankly… I’m not sure many more people could have fitted in that room anyway. It also meant I left relatively early, due to increasing nerves over my ability to get back to my bed in lovely suburban Kent.
- Nice evening anyway, for the couple of hours I was there. Kudos to Andy Bargery for organising, and Vodafone for the free beer. And they also provide the HTC Magic I mentioned earlier at a very reasonable price, so I genuinely love them. It’s not just because of the beer.
Saw this just before going to bed and liked it.
Lifted from the blog of Warren Ellis, who in turn lifted it from the Flickr of Sara Gries.
Not The First Post
Funny story.
I was in my office earlier, eating a Sainsburys ready meal curry with a disposable plastic fork and a coffee-stained teaspoon. I had half an hour or so before I needed to head out to LBM, a Meetup for London Bloggers.
I was in the middle of setting up this blog, and about to pen a nice opening message. Then I realised I had forgotten my key to the back door of the building (again), and needed to get out in the next ten minutes or risk getting locked inside.
All of which explains why the first two posts on my new personal blog ended up being items fed through from Feeding The Black Dog, my unhelpful (but hopefully amusing) advice site, and The Confessions. Because I had time to set up these fancy feeds even if I didn’t manage to write any content. Never mind. Here is the actual first post, in the third slot.
So, this is a new site where I can post stuff that interests me, or is entirely about me. Updates could grow irregular if I get distracted with “proper projects”, but I’ll try and at least throw up the occasional photo. If nothing else, my other sites will feed through. More later, possibly. Should you wish, I can be emailed at nick@nickbryan.com, among other addresses.
The Dangers Of Overclocking
Link: The Dangers Of Overclocking
Lest anyone get the wrong idea, I’m not much of an IT technician. I can use a computer quite competently when it’s turned on, but don’t have the first clue about what all that stuff inside does. So…
